The Journal of medical practice management : MPM
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Becoming a manager of former peers is a common occurrence in medical practice management, but it can be awkward and challenging. This article describes the specific staff management challenges that recently promoted practice managers encounter. It urges promoted managers to seek support outside the practice through new friendships, mentoring, and leadership networks. ⋯ It offers a strategy for handling former peers who continue to overshare personal information with the manager. It describes how to handle four common authority challenges newly promoted practice managers may face, with sample dialogue. And it suggests a social media strategy medical practice managers can use when they are connected electronically to their former peers.
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Medical practice.managers spend their days surrounded by people, so the last thing they may expect to feel is lonely. Yet for many, being the manager of a medical practice can lead to feelings of isolation from the rest of the staff, and loneliness. This article explores the many reasons that managing a medical practice can be a lonely business. ⋯ It offers guidance for medical practice managers who wish to help lonely members of their teams. It describes the benefits of having a confidant to help support the medical practice manager, and the characteristics of an ideal confidant. Finally, this article suggests a strategy for combatting loneliness by interacting with the staff more frequently.
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Medication errors represent one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. Anesthesia has specific medication-related risks; providers must administer many potent intravenous medications quickly, often with minimal to no supervision. ⋯ Emphasis should be placed on implementing forcing functions when possible, utilizing technology, standardization, and education about the need for awareness in specific situations. More studies need to be done to define the epidemiology of medication errors in anesthesia, and more importantly, to assess interventions for preventing them.
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Office-based surgery continues to grow as more procedures are being performed in the outpatient setting. With this exponential growth, there is an increasing emphasis on safe and effective patient care. Current research shows both gaps in safety and opportunities for improvement. ⋯ Effective strategies to maintain quality and patient safety include the use of checklists, obtaining office accreditation, encouraging board-certification and proper credentialing of proceduralists, and appropriate patient and procedure selection. There is increasing regulation of ambulatory surgery on state and national levels that will likely affect the financial and care quality aspects of office-based practice. Socioeconomic and political forces will continue to shape the future of office-based surgery.
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Retirement provides many opportunities for physicians in this stage of their lives. This final installment of the three-part series on retirement discusses the post-retirement options that physicians can avail themselves of when they leave the conventional practice of medicine. We will also provide a checklist for the retiring doctor.